Connecter for multipiece rails



Dec. 8, 1931. c. DRAKE CONNECTER FOR MULTIPIECE RAILS Filed Dec. 24,1950 [/vvs/vToR 614/1110 DRAKE Patented Dec, 8, 1931 UNITED STATESAPATENTOFFICE I CONNEGTER FOR MULTIPIECE RAILS Application filedDecember 24, 1930. Serial No. 504,499

This invention relates to a connecter that is intended to be used forjoining multi-piece rails of the type that consist of two parallelinsulated sections which form the opposite 6 sides of an electriccircuit. 7

One object of my invention is to provide a connecter for rails of thetype mentioned, which, in addition to establishing proper electricalconnection between the similar sections 10 of two abutting rails, willalso securely hold the rails against relative movement in a verticaldirection, in a lateral direction and in a longitudinal direction. 2

Another object is to providea rail connecter of the character mentioned,that is inexpensive to manufacture and which can be applied to the railsquickly and without the necessity of manipulating nutsor other threadedfastening devices.

I have herein illustrated my invention embodied in a connecter for a toytrain track rail of the kind disclosed in my United States Patent No.1,605,521, dated November 2, 1926, but I wish it to be understood thatmy invention is applicable to a connecter for any kind of a rail thatcomprises two parts or sections through which an electric current isflowing, and which are insulated from each other in order to prevent thecurrent from short-circuiting or passing from one section of the rail tothe other section of the rail,

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side elevational view, partly in verticalsection 'illustratingmy improved connecter arranged in operativeengagement with two longitudinally aligned rails whose terminal ends aredisposed in abutting orapproximately abutting relationship.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the connecter disassembled from therails. 7

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Figure 1.'

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the tie bars. I p

' In the drawings A and A designate two longitudinally aligned orabutting rails, each of which is made up of two identical sections ofsuch cross-sectional shape that when wheel.

they are arranged in parallel relation, they will co-operate with eachother to produce a rail having a horizontally-disposed base portion, avertically-disposed web portion and a head that will serve as a treadfor a 155 Said sections form the opposite sides (positive and negative)of an electric circuit, and said sections are insulated from each otherby an insulator an, as shown in Figure'2. The two sections of the railare rigidly con-" nected together byrivets y, or any other suitablemeans that will maintain said sections in rigid relationship and preventthe electric current from passingfrom one section'to the, other. I Theconnecter that I, have devised for joining two rails of the charactermentioned has provision for establishing proper electrical connectionbetween the longitudinally, aligned sections of two abutting rails Aand" A and also provision for preventing said rails from separatingiandfrom moving vertically or laterally relatively to each other.

In the preferred form of my invention herein illustrated said connectercomprises a device B, shown in Figure 3, constructed so as to bridge thejoint between the rails A andA and embrace the base flanges and verticalwebs of said rails, and it comprises one or more tie bars C, shown inFigure 5,

disposed transversely of the joint between the rails and maintained ininterlocking engagement with the rails by the device B.

In the form of my invention herein illustrated the deviceB is made up oftwo op- 30 posed members or side members constructed of metal andcombined with an insulator 1 that prevents electric current from passingfrom one of said side members to the other side member. As shown inFigure 3, each of the side members just referred to has a substantiallyhorizontally-disposed, channel-shaped portion 2 whose top leg has anupwardly-projecting flange 3 andwhose bottom leg has adownwardly-projecting flange 4. When said side members are arranged inopposed relation the horizontally-disposed, channel-shaped portions 2 ofsame co-act with each other toform in eflect a sleeve that is adapted-toreceive the base'flanges of two through said flangesand..througlrJthe-iin sulator 1. In order that the rivets 5 will notform a path through"whiclrthe-electriccurrent can flow from one sidememberto the other side member ofthe device B, insulators -16areicombined'with thevrivets 5 in such a vway that at least oneend portionof each ,rivet: will be maintained out .of' electrical contactwithzoneiof the flanges fl through .whichthe rivet passes.v Thedepending flanges 4 onthedevice Bare preferably made of suchdepth that.when the connecter is in use. the bottom edges of said flanges willcontact with the supporting surface: on which the rail lties ,2 rest,and thus effectively prevent the-ends ofthe rails A, and A fromdeflecting ,under load, 1. e, when a wheel travels over .the jzOlIllZbetween the rails. Y Y

'llhe tie bar C,. p reviously referred to, is also preferablyconstructed of metal, and is H intended to .bearranged transversely ofthe joint between the rails A and ,A' and held in ;interlockedengagement with said rails by ul eansof the device B. Preferably two tiebars C are used and slots 7 are formed in :the

abaseiflangesof the rails, as shown in Figure l soas to receive :lugs oraiwularl r-disaosed a a: l

proyectlonsdon the tie bars. Afterthera1ls A and A have been arranged 1nabutting or approximately abutting relationship, the tie rbars C areappliedto the bottom faces of the flanges of therailsin such a way thatthe lugs or extensionsuon said tie bars will proacct upwardly throughthe slots 7 in the base fiange s of the rails. Thereafter, the deviceBis moved longitudinally of the rails into a position, where it bridgesthe joint :between the :rails and clamps the tie bars C to the baseflanges of vtherails. The preferred method of using my improvedconnecter is to first slide the device Hover the end portion of one .ofthe rails, for example, the rail A, and move said device longitudinallyof the rail into the position shown in broken lines in Figure 1. The.tie barsC are next. interlocked with thebaseflange of the rail A byinserting the lugs-8 on said tie bars in the slots 7 inthe base flangeof said rail, after which the device B is moved longitudinally of therail A in the opposite direction far enough to lap over said tie barsand retain themin position; The other end portionsof the tie bars Carethen interlocked with the hase flange of the rail A, after which thedevice is moved longitudinally in a direction to embrace the end portionof the rail A, and thus securely hold the tie bars C in interlockedrelationship with the two rails, as shown in full lines in Figure 1. Todisconnect or disassemble the rails A and A it is only necessary toslide the device B longitudinally into such a osition that the tiebars-can be disconnected-from thebaseflanges of the rails.

A rail connecter of the construction above described makes-it possibleto join two multipiece abutting rails without manipulating n-uts, screwsorother threaded fastening devices; it establishes proper electricalconnectiolrbetween the 'longitudinally-aligned sections of the railswithout danger of short circuits-being produced, and it securely holdsthe abutting rails against relative movement either vertically,laterally or longitudinally.

While such a connecter .is not limited to use:

with toy train track rails, it is particularly adapted for this purposeon account-efthe ease with which it can be applied -to or re- ;movedfromthe rails, and on account'of its low cost of manufacture, it beingpreferable: .toconstructthe device B from two identical sheet metalstampingsthat-can-be shaped and combined by simple punch pressoperations,

and it also being preferable to use a sheet metal stamping to form thetie bars thus described, my invention, what I claim asnew-and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is: I I

1. A means for joining rails o-f'the type which form the opposite sidesof an electric circuit,.consisting-of a device adapted to be arranged inengagement with the ends of abutting rails and having provision formechanically connecting the, rails together and maintaining the oppositesections insulated from each other.

.2. A means for jOlIllIlg rails of the type that consist of twoinsulated metallic sections which form the opposite sides of an"electric circuit, consisting of a device adaptedto be arrangedinengagementwiththe ends ,of abutting rails and having provision forholdingisaid rails against relative movement, and means combined withsaid device for establishing electrical connection between theco-actin-g longitudinally-aligned sections of the rails which form theopposite sides .ofzthe circuit. I

3. A means for joining rails of the type that consist of two insulatedmetallic sections which form the opposite sides of an ,electriccircuit,consisting of a device adapted to be arranged in'engagement with theends of abutting rails and having provision for holding said railsagainst relative movement either vertically, laterally or longitudinallyand means combined with said device for establishing electricalconnection between the co-acting longitudinally aligned Fthatconsistoftwo insulated metallic sections 7100 sections of the railswhich form the opposite sides of the circuit.

4. A means for joining rails of the type that consist of two insulatedmetallic sections which form the opposite sides of: an electric circuit,consisting of a device constructed to embrace the base flanges ofabutting rails and bridge the oint between same, said device comprisingopposed side me1nbers that are insulated from each other.

5. A means for joining rails of the type that consist of two insulatedmetallic sections which form the opposite sides of an electric circuit,consisting of a device constructed so as to bridge the joint betweenabutting rails and bear upon the base flanges and webs of said rails,said device comprising opposed side members that are insulated from eachother.

6. A means for joining rails of the type that consist of two insulatedmetallic sections which form the opposite sides of an electric circuit,consisting of a device constructed to receive the base flanges and Websof abutting rails and having provision for preventing said rails frompulling apart endwise, said device also having provision forestablishing proper electrical connection be tween the respectivelongitudinally aligned sections of the rails.

7. A means for joining rails of the type that consist of two insulatedmetallic sections which form the opposite sides of an electric circuit,consisting of a device constructed to receive the ends of abutting railsand bridge the joint between the same, and a tie bar we tending acrossthe joint between the rails and held in engagement with the rails bysaid device.

8. A means for joining rails of the type that consist of insulatedmetallic sections which form the opposite sides of an electric circuit,consisting of a tie bar extending across the joint between abuttingrails and interlocked with the rails, and a device telescoped over theends of the rails and over said tie bar for holding said tie bar inoperative engagement with the rails and for maintaining said rails inlongitudinal alignment with each other.

9. A means for joining rails of the type that consist of insulatedmetallic sections which form the opposite sides of an electric circuit,consisting of a device made up of two opposed metallic side membersinsulated from each other and constructed to form a sleeve that receivesthe base flanges of abutting rails and act as fish plates that engagethe webs of the rails, and a means that co -acts with said device toprevent the rails from pulling apart endwise.

10. A connecter for joining abutting rails of the type referred to,consisting of a device constructed to receive the base flanges and websof abutting rails and composed of two opposed side members, dependingportions on said side members joined together, an insulator arrangedbetween said depending portions, a tie bar extending across the jointbetween the rails and held in engagement with same by said device, andmeans for interlocking said tie bar with the rails at opposite sides ofthe joint between the rails.

11. A connecter for joining abutting rails of the type mentioned,consisting of a device adapted to be telescoped over the end portions ofthe rails so as to bridge the joint between the same, said device beingcomposed of two opposed side members having substantiallyhorizontally-disposed, channel-shaped portions whose top legs haveupwardly-projecting flanges and whose bottom legs havedownwardly-projecting flanges, an insulator positioned between thedownwardly-projecting flanges of said side members, and devices passingthrough said insulator and the flanges between which it is positionedfor connecting said side members together.

CLAUD DRAKE.

